The Advanced Television Systems Committee Digital Television standard (ATSC DTV) describes a system design standard for providing high-quality audio, video and ancillary data transmission and reception using a single 6 MHz channel. An ATSC DTV compliant system can reliably deliver approximately 19 Mbits/sec over a 6 Mhz terrestrial (8 VSB) broadcasting channel and approximately 38 Mbits/sec over a 6 Mhz cable television (16 VSB) channel.
Predictably, as the popularity of DTV systems grows, so does the demand for more efficient overall use of the allocated bandwidth and increased reliability. Accordingly, there is a need to more efficiently utilize the overall allocated bandwidth of an ATSC DTV signal in an ATSC system.